Awen is Welsh for inspiration, the muse. This blog will record my explorations into poetry and fiction writing and my interests in Welsh/Celtic poetics and mythology.

Thursday, 9 July 2015

Social Media News

Hi Everyone

Apologies if you've already heard the news, but I've been featured in two social media events in the last couple of weeks.

The first is a podcast for The Morning Bell, a quarterly journal and blog set up by ex-students from the Professional Writing & Editing course at Box Hill TAFE. When the course was closed by the institute in 2013 (a mistake in my opinion and also in the opinion of other teachers, students and prospective students), the annual anthology, Avant, also folded. However, a group of graduates saw a need for a publication that would continue to help emerging writers and so revived the anthology in a new incarnation. These passionate and innovative writers and editors have published two issues, which are in digital format, though the first issue was also published in print. I encourage you all to have a look at the journal, subscribe if possible, and submit if you are an emerging writer.

In the podcast we discuss film, TV, writing and my time in Britain, especially my eight-week residency in Corris. To listen to the podcast, go to iTunes orPodcast Garden. If you like what you hear, check out the other podcasts, which feature a number of fantastic writers, editors and bloggers, including Michael Pryor and Helen Milte.

Recording the podcast at The Brunswick Street Bookstore (from The Morning Bell website)

The second social media event I participated in was an interview for the blog of another ex-student. Elizabeth Corbett did the PWE course a few years ago and has been blogging about her experiences as a writer and as a learner of Welsh language (we actually bumped into each other at a class and so renewed our acquaintance).

Elizabeth and I are both writing novels wholly- or partly-based in Britain and using Welsh mythology, though the time periods for our projects are centuries apart. In the interview I discuss my residency in Wales, my sense of Britain as a spiritual home, and the concept of 'mythic realism', especially in regard to the novels of Alan Garner.

My Photo

About Me

Born and bred in Melbourne, Australia, I came to writing and poetry late, after careers and ambitions in mathematics, martial arts and music. I have had poetry and fiction published in journals and anthologies around Australia and also in Britain, Canada, the USA, and Germany. In 2005 I won the Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Competition and I have been shortlisted in others, including the Blake Poetry Prize. I taught in a writing course at Box Hill Institute, Victoria, for 17 years and have completed a PhD in Creative Writing. Currently, I am working on my second collection of poetry and a Dark Ages novel. I live in Melbourne with my wife, Jo, and the seasonal owls, bats and lorikeets that love the trees around our home.